The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-08-13
STUDENT LIFE IN PARIS.
Some of the Manners and Customs of
the Latin Quarter.

The most striking character
istic Of genuine Paris student
particularly one of the medica
persuasion, is his free and easy
manners. You may see the young
gentleman of studious propensitie:
on top of a billiard table in one o.
the brasseries, with a cue in one
hand and a plate Of what they cal
choucroute in the other, harragu.
ing crowd of miscellaneous friends
upon some important question OF
the moment. Yes; on the whole
you are apt to recognize the stu
dent by the delightful sans gene
which he displays whenever he ap-
pears in public. You think to
yourself: Well, these joking,
drinking, jovial, fooling young
Frenchmen can't amount to much
at their books. They are not seri-
Gus enough, they waste too much
time at cafes and brasseries, they
keep too late hours, ETC." Wait, a
moment, my friend. Paris students
are not to be judged too hastily.
Go into the lecture rooms and the
laboratories. Watch these same
harum-scarum fellows at the dis
secting-table, or in the great libra
ries. Talk to them. Find out
who they are, etc, and the first
thing you know you will discover
that these "young fools" as you
thought them the other night when
you watched them gambling in the
Cafe de la Source, at / o'clock in
the morning, know enough about
medicine, or chemistry, or some
thing else, to make your head swim.
You see they play very hard when
they play, and perhaps it's the
same when they work. They laugh
at the English students here as be-
ing always serious" for the excel
lent reason that they have not
enough esprit to know anything
else.
There is a number Of girls among
Paris students, not n few Americans,
and a great many Russians. They
90 into the laboratories and hospi-
tails and dissccting-rooms, with the
utmost Indifference, but Of course
they are pricipally occupied in the
various art studios. 1t is a curious
fact that most of them are not at all
pretty, not that that has anything to
do with it. An amusing thing hap
pened last winter in the medical
school. "A Professor was lecturing
in chemistry, in the grand amphi-
theatre, to several hundred students,
the girls among the rest. Toward
the close of the hour he had the
room darkened in order to project
some illustrations on Il screen, and
jus: at the moment when the lights
were turned out, there arose from
all parts of the house such storm
of lip-smacking-the time-worn
tunnel joke-that he could not
continue. OF course the Professor
was furious, and the young ladies
were, too, perhaps, but the boys
were happy.
One of the curious phases of stu
dent life here is to do away as far as
possible with the necessities in favor
of all manner of luxuries. "A young
Frenchman will like a miserable
room in the sixth story, with
brick floor and no carpet, and will
go without a fire even in the cold
est days of winter; whereas, by pay
ing twenty francs more in the
he might have large, COM
Portable room, well heated, and two
stories lower. He takes the twenty
francs thus saved and invests it in
a lottery ticket-that's a great bus
iness, by the way, in France. He
will go without breakfast to have
for the theatre he will dine
on uDwholesome food for a quarter,
proceed to spend three or four and
francs in a cafe for billiards and
various drinkablcs for himself and
friends. He will sometimes, / re-
gret to say, prefer spending two
francs fifty centimes for bright,
new cravat to paying the necessary
ten sous which would entitle him
to a bath. With the view Of being
Of possible use to some Of my coun-
trymen / give few of the prices in
this part of Paris. The figures are
authentic:
Good room, third or fourth floor. per
month, franc ............ .......... 45VO
Decent room, sixth floor, per month. $500
ooh ;nghouse per month - ooOo
Fair dinner at restaurant per day. l.25
food dinner at restaurant per day. 200 |
Fair breakfast at restaurant per day. Lob
Good breakfast at restaurant per day l5O
food suit of clothes to order .....- l25.Oo
Fair suit OF clothes to order ......... % OO
Good silk hat ..........-.-.--.. lb.OO
Fo;r s;It hat ........ 1000 |
Good pair Of shoes. .....-.-....-..- Zo.oV
In order to show how cheap it is
possible TO live here, If a man has